Recently over at Center For Inquiry's forum which I frequent regularly, I was confronted with another joker repeating Poptech's conjured description of me as a guilt-riddled strung-out druggie and lost soul. Poptech's slander is his way of responding to my fact checking, critiquing and challenging his claims. Others of his persuasion have been quick to embrace the bull-pucky.
It seems that every few weeks some new joker finds Poptech's article and gleefully grabs his ammunition and blasts aways at me in the middle of some other discussion. That they are dealing with figments of their own imagination matters not one wit to them - it's character assassination they're interested in.
What else is there for someone who consistently misrepresents serious climate science? They sure don't have solid evidence on their side. Nor do they have the requisite intellectual curiosity to learn about the things they don't understand. When something confuses them, assume the worst, with ignorant certitude.
Distraction is their game. Marginalize the messenger and marginalize the message. Spend all your time wrestling with ad hominems and there's no time to talk about our real world situation. Go straight for the jugular of your opponent with anything you can conjure.
There's a certain level of sick humor in reading how these minds can spin facts into tailor-made fictions - but of course, in the end all they want is to destroy any opponent in order to stifle fundamental climate science education - no commitment to honesty, or integrity, or respect for others. Tragically absolutism and paranoia driven resentment seems all their hearts are capable of.
Admitting to and learning from mistakes is treated like blasphemy by the Republican contrarian crowd. Nothing funny about that either.
It's irrational, irritating, stupefying and it certainly demands some sort of comeback. But, I’m not into Poptech’s, or LandscapesandCycles' Jim Steele's or NC20 Burton’s style of childish messenger bashing.
Still, since they want to get down and personal, I can respond with something personal.
Consider it another character reference . . . . . . .
Consider it another character reference . . . . . . .
It started as a note to a friend . . .
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Hey D, I never did tell you the end of the story regarding those stairs. As you might remember last autumn I had me a hernia. It took months longer to get repaired than it should have, towards the end of that run I was actually invalided, bed to recliner, no lifting. Innards all funky. Not fun. Feeling every bit of my sixty years and reconciling myself to the end of my sweet vigorous years. Among other dark thoughts was the realization that my carpentry days were totally behind me now. Which they are, but to ponder that I’d never be able to climb walls again, or help set beams and rafters, or one of my favorites building stairs - that's a different thing from choosing not to do it. A proud physical old man wrestles with those realities as the 'diminishing' advances with the years.
